Governor Beshear says his administration is exploring several options to pay for expanding the Mountain Parkway to four lanes through Kentucky’s eastern coal region. The governor discussed the issue with Bill Goodman on KET’s “One To One” program.
“We’re looking at all different kinds of financing. We’re looking at tolls, we’re looking at state government financing. We’re looking at Tifia loans, which is a federal low-interest loan that you can get. We’re just looking at all different combinations to see how we can make it happen…and we’re not there yet, but I’m hoping that by January we’ll be there.” –Gov. Steve Beshear
Improving the Mountain Parkway is one of the suggestions for diversifying the economy of eastern Kentucky, which is heavily dependent on coal and has been hurt by the slump in the industry.